Introduction
editThe Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd.’s (IRCTC) central kitchen is one of the largest kitchens of India. IRCTC has its central kitchen in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that works round the clock in order to provide hygienic, competitively priced and affordable meals to both rail passengers as well as corporate clients. This state-of-the-art food factory has an optimum capacity of about 25000 meals per day at Sector-64 Noida. Currently, IRCTC is operating major Base Kitchens at New Delhi and Howrah railway stations and Mini Base Kitchens at Patna and Ahmedabad. The one in Noida is fully automated and has all the latest equipment. The four-story facility makes 10,000 meals and 6,000 snack packets for trains and cater to PSUs, MNCs, BPOs and several educational institutions in and around Noida. Around 120 workers work in two shifts between 11 pm to 6 pm for the next day to supply the ever-increasing orders.[1]
How does e-catering works?
editGet Good Food Delivery in Train
editIRCTC is a mini Ratna PSU of Indian Railways. To provide quality and variety in food to railway passengers, the e-catering scheme has been started. With e-catering scheme, passengers now have the freedom to order food of their choice.
IRCTC is the official agency for this scheme which it runs through its authorized partners. Passengers can order food on any of the stations.
Few of the major stations where passengers avail e-catering are as Mumbai Central(BCT) , Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal (CST), New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS), Old Delhi Railway Station(DEL), Bangalore City Junction(SBC), Chennai Central(MAS), Kanpur(CNB), Allahabad Junction(ALD), Varanasi (BSB), Lucknow(LKO),Itarasi (ET), Bhopal Junction (BPL), Vijaywada(BZA) etc.
From a simple combo of daal, roti, and chawal to Mughlai biryani and delicious pizzas, passengers can exercise their freedom and delve into yummy food in Indian railways.[2]
How does Indian railway's food factory achieve 10,000 meals per day?
editMassive chapatti makers that roll out uniform-shaped chapatti’s in less than 80 seconds, steam kettles, which cook up tones of well-made rice and a cutting machine that chops up about 400 kilograms of vegetables in an hour - the Indian Railway's mammoth kitchen is a state-of-the art wonder.
The kitchen is fully automated with latest equipment’s from the best of the manufacturers in India and abroad. Raw materials are stocked in a store room on the ground floor, with pulses, rice, spices, vermicelli, and other dry items segregated neatly with indicating labels.
Vegetables are sourced from Mother Dairy and the non-perishable food items come from the Metro Cash and Carry outlet near Karkardooma Court. The kitchen has just installed an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to segregate different forms of waste into reusable air and water.
Potato peelers and batter makers, particularly for South Indian dishes like edli and vada are also used. Equipment is sourced from across the world like Hallde from Sweden, Rosinox from France, Hackmann from Finland and Sottriva from Italy besides the Ahmedabad-based Servotech.
Breadsticks, relished especially by children on train rides, is among the few food items that require manual labour, with the dough being shaped by hand. It is then baked in an Italian rotary oven at about 195 degrees. Giant steam kettles, brat pans, cold rooms, hot plates, and blast freezer are among other instruments used in the central kitchen.
The steam kettles cook uniformly and are based on the concept of using the steam generated for cooking rice. The mega kitchen also has solar panels set up exclusively for heating water that is used for washing dishes, while for drinking and cooking, there is an RO water treatment plant.
Quality Check and Packaging
editSimultaneously, workers pack dals and vegetables in insulated containers, and dispatched in temperature-controlled vans to the railway station kitchen for final packaging. Also, chapatti are dabbed with butter and rolled in foil to keep them soft for hours.
Though they work at lightning speed, compromise in quality is not allowed. They check samples from each and every batch and if anything is found wrong, immediately the entire batch is recalled
German, French, Finn, Indian Under One Roof
editThe kitchen is well-equipped with high degree mechanization from around the world, they have someone from Germany to dice and shred vegetables, while the Finn one boils rice and dal and a France sauté sabzi. And they all work under Indian cooks and managers.